A panel of judges sitting on the federal Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit appeared skeptical of a challenge to the use of automatic license plate readers by the Illinois state police, questioning whether the cameras’ collection of vehicle snapshots amounts to an improper search under the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. Plaintiffs Stephanie Scholl and Frank Bednarz argued that a network of more than 300 cameras near Cook County expressways, combined with 90 days of retained data, lets police reconstruct drivers’ movements without a warrant or probable cause. Plaintiffs argued that compiling a person’s travel over time can reveal more than any single snapshot, and that law-abiding drivers have Fourth Amendment protections. Judge Amy St. Eve, however, questioned whether the plaintiffs’ theory differed meaningfully from circuit precedent involving real-time location tracking.
The government’s attorney countered that the cameras capture license plates at fixed locations on public expressways, and that state law limits both where the cameras may be installed and how the resulting data may be used. The district court dismissed the case, finding the alleged risk of future tracking too abstract to support the requested relief and concluding that the challenged plate reading was not an intrusive search. The federal Department of Justice also supported the state’s position. The Seventh Circuit’s questions suggest that the plaintiffs might face substantial hurdles. However, questions from the bench do not necessarily signal a ruling: we will have to wait until the court releases its formal decision.